Sketchbook: Full Color's

To Sora Kajiwara, the world is full of wonderful and adorable things she wants to draw—cats being a popular object of her affection. Even though there are some things that can't be captured with a pencil and paper, she still brings her sketchbook wherever she goes. Her love of drawing eventually leads her to join her school's art club, despite her shy and childish personality.

Just like herself, all of Sora's fellow art club members have their own vivid imagination and personality to match. Through her interactions with the rest of the club, Sora begins to break out of her shell and see more of the world around her, taking every opportunity to sketch whatever is on her mind or in her heart.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kajiwara, Sora Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Asou, Natsumi Main

Nakase, Asuka Japanese

Torikai, Hazuki Main

Makino, Yui Japanese

Kate Supporting

Gotou, Yuuko Japanese

Kurihara, Nagisa Supporting

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Kuga, Kokage Supporting

Saitou, Momoko Japanese

Tanabe, Ryou Supporting

Asano, Masumi Japanese

Himuro, Fuu Supporting

Kuwatani, Natsuko Japanese

Kuma Supporting

Nakata, Jouji Japanese

Mike Supporting

Kaneda, Tomoko Japanese

Satou, Junichi Producer, Storyboard

Beniya, Yoshikazu Producer

Iizuka, Toshio Producer

Haruta, Katsunori Producer

Reviews

Aug 14, 2024

nozomiEX

Recommended

Ignore the number for a sec; Sketchbook: Full Color's is just barely entertaining enough to get a shaky, half-hearted recommendation. A fusion of iyashikei and slice of life comedy, the two parts never fully blend and the latter will be carrying the slack for the former. When it's just the colorful cast getting up to their antics, it's pretty alright. The characters are endearing and there's just enough variety between them to be refreshing and prevent anyone from getting annoying. It's not gonna have you busting a gut but it's enough to have you grinning every so often. However, the ... other half of the show is where it might start losing you. When it switches to Sora's shallow contemplation, it dips a little too far into the iyashikei and becomes tedious. It is just far too insubstantial, without the ambiance that other more tolerable iyashikei have to at least make the time pass. I also found the cat segments to be quite annoying, too, partly because of the obnoxious voices they have, partly because of the fatuous scenarios themselves, and partly because of just how long these segments take. Unlike the human characters, where the brevity of any given segment typically breaks up the monotony, the cat bits drag far too long. Less fuzzy fun, more hairball in your throat.

Overall, even though I think there are plenty of times where you'll be looking at the timecode, itching to fast forward, or start staring at the wall or trimming your nails, or otherwise falling out of it, the art class and their shenanigans are just engaging enough to make this worth checking out, but you are forgiven if it's just not enough for you. If you don't find yourself caring enough to stick it out for the humans, you won't be missing anything if you decide to drop it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jan 7, 2023

chaosof99

Recommended

When I got first into anime, beyond shows that I simply watched because they were on TV with or without the knowledge that they had been imported from Japan, I was of course first wowed by the spectacle of movies like Akira or the coolness of a show like Cowboy Bebop. However, one day I stumbled over a show that was so completely different from everything else I had ever seen that I could not help but be fascinated by it. That show was Sketchbook ~full colors~ and it belongs to what is known as the Iyashikei genre.

The goal of all art is to emotionally ... connect with the audience. This is reflected in the names of genres like “romance”, “thriller” or “horror”. For action shows the feeling that is meant to be conveyed is the excitement of a fight and the triumph in it. For Iyashikei it is the direct opposite, it is meant to be the least exciting, but that doesn’t mean “boring”. Instead, Iyashikei is meant to convey feelings of comfort and relaxation. And as its name (meaning “healing type” in japanese) suggests, it is something you can watch to reduce the stress from your job or other sources. You could almost fault Japanese society for having to bring something like this forth, but I find the absence of titles trying to enable similar emotions in other countries even more remarkable. The biggest comparison I could find are things like nature documentaries or The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross, but neither are narrative stories.

Iyashikei shows aren’t completely devoid of conflict, but the problems that arise are usually minor and relatively quickly resolved. In Sketchbook for example we follow Sora Kajiwara, a first grader that joins the art club at her school where the biggest issue is that one of her upperclassmen perhaps shouts a bit too much, and cats don’t lie still long enough for her to draw their toes.

With a light jazz soundtrack and beautiful watercolor backgrounds depicting Fukuoka’s countryside, the show is just endlessly relaxing, while at the same time able to retain the attention of the viewer through small comedic moments enabled by a surprisingly vast roster of more than twenty recurring named characters, far outnumbering most other shows of its type. Primary focus is on Sora and her closer circle of friends, but interactions with other characters often occur and are interesting for their own sake and without it being overwhelming. It also includes a group of alley cats that get their own episodes to highlight how their group deals with things such as a new cat arriving in the neighborhood, with them given voices through the magic of film.

In particular I want to highlight the fourth episode. Here the art club had planned to go on a nature walk with opportunities to draw, but most members skip out on it due to a bad weather forecast. Sora ends up alone with Nagisa, a tomboyish girl who likes insects, and shows Sora and the viewer small details like butterflies hiding under tree leafs to avoid the rain. Though the episode is mostly drenched in dull grays due to the weather, it is nevertheless enjoyable throughout.

I would classify Sketchbook as a particularly pure example of the Iyashikei genre, as even the comedy bits that are sprinkled in are very light and don’t disrupt the overall tone, whereas many other series that have also received the Iyashikei label are much more high strung, just with a rural and/or low-stakes environment. Sketchbook on the other hand has one single goal it fulfills to the best of its ability: Radiate tranquility.

Sketchbook is unfortunately nowadays largely forgotten, with less than 30,000 people having seen it on MAL. Perhaps it was a bit overshadowed by the similarly titled Hidamari Sketch which was released about nine months earlier and with which it also shares elements such as the main characters being art students and both series based on yon-koma manga. Sketchbook unfortunately did not have the benefit of sequels or a studio with a cult following. I also love Hidamari Sketch, but I would classify it more as a straight up comedy and it just doesn’t quite scratch the same itch. And even then, the viewership numbers of Hidamari are still only about 10% of what a popular show racks up nowadays.

If Sketchbook has one remarkable thing going for it, it’s being one of Seiyuu superstar Kana Hanazawa’s first main character roles, giving voice to Sora’s delightful idiosyncrasies. Sora is perhaps an oddball and it is rare to see “the quiet one” being the main character of a show, but she is also very entertainingly portrayed through her inner monologue and HanaKana is of course excellent in her role. The show also features great voice acting talent beyond her in supporting roles.

Though Sketchbook admittedly does not boast many outwardly appealing qualities that lend themselves to draw in a large audience, it has been something I have repeatedly returned to. It is my personal comfort, and something I am always willing to watch in order to take my mind off work. I would particularly recommend it if you have enjoyed shows like Yuru Camp or Super Cub. Even if I was not able to convince you to give the show a chance, I certainly hope that you will find a show that gives you as much comfort as Sketchbook was able to give me throughout these years.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Mar 20, 2009

Skadi

Mixed Feelings

When you first sit down to watch Sketchbook Full Colors you need to know what it is your getting in to. First if you are someone who needs action and a story driven series to keep you entertained, Sketchbook is not your kind of show. This is a very slow and methodical slice of life series that will have you feeling at ease and relaxed.. or asleep depending on the episode you’re viewing.

Almost the first thing I am reminded of when viewing Sketchbook is Aria, and rightly so as they were both produced by the same studio. There are even several appearances ... of Aria characters in the series. But even though Aria had the same sort of pacing as Sketchbook does, this series feels more disjointed and inconsistent. Some episodes are humorous and nostalgic feeling, the one that I probably felt the most emotional connection with was towards the end when Sora is home sick. I found it fascinating how some things, such as the boredom of lying in bed and the things one imagines or thinks about transcend culture and language. However this was not the case in many of the others. Slice of life tends to always walk the line between soothing and being boring. When we look at our own lives, how exciting really is most of the things that happen to you during the day?

The characters also hurt the series. They just aren't that interesting. In this genre the characters have to be strong to carry the lack of plot and action but I didn’t really find myself carrying all that much for any of them. Sora is the lead, she is a painfully shy girl who borders on complete anthropophobia. She can’t even so much as say her name to people she has just met and only finds any level of comfort with people she has known a while. She does make a breakthrough at the end of the series so in that sense that was good to see. The rest of her personality doesn’t make her all that much more interesting. That’s not to say she isn’t very sweet and moe, but really her only other character attributes is her love of cats and sketching and the blissful state she enters when drinking her favorite tea. The rest of the cast is pretty much just as socially awkward and strange. Many of them feel like they have some very deep seeded emotional issues. They grow on you a little by the end as only a cast of complete lunatics can. Most of the comedic moments revolve around the non human members of the cast, the group of cats that Sora is so fond of. As characters the cats are probably the most interesting the show has to offer.

From a voice acting and music standpoint, Sketchbook is truly brilliant. The music is outstanding, the songs are so beautiful and serene that I think I could have listened to them all day. The art is very inconsistent. Many of the backgrounds are really beautiful and the colors are vibrant, but when it comes to the characters themselves most of them look dull and boring. Individually characters like Sora sometimes look great but at others she doesn’t look good at all. Some of the character models are downright ugly. I do give the artists this though, these characters were probably the most realistic in terms of bodies than any series I have seen. No impossibly short miniskirts, fantastic busts, and waist lines a runway model would kill for.

Overall if you like the slice of life then this might be worth your time. Those of you didn’t like Aria you won’t like this one either. If you did, then this could be your cup of tea. For someone who has seen neither and wants to sample the genre, then I would recommend you check out Aria instead.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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	Poll: Sketchbook ~full color'S~ Episode 3 Discussion Faust721 - Oct 22, 2007	33 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Aug 25, 11:58 AM
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